The Clerc Center
Connection

Amidst Snow, Sleet, and Rain

Clerc Center Hosts Annual Gallaudet University Regional Center Directors’ Meeting

By Margaret Hallau, Ph.D.

The Gallaudet University Regional Center (GURC) directors, Kim Beardslee, Steve Larew, Sara Simmons, Pam Snedigar, and Kathy Vessey, braved snow, ice, freezing rain, delayed openings, and an early closing as a part of their annual meeting from January 25 to 30. As Dr. Jankowski welcomed the five directors over dinner on Sunday evening, the snow began falling.

Sara Simmons, from Kapi olani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaii, borrowed winter clothes from four friends. Kim Beardslee, from Johnson County Community College (the first regional center) in Overland Park, Kansas, brought extra gloves for Sara. Steve Larew, who grew up in Iowa but now directs the GURC at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, remarked that his blood had gotten too thin for this kind of weather. Pam Snedigar, from Ohlone College in Fremont, California, found it difficult to navigate in crutches because of a sprained ankle. But Kathy Vessey, from Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, Massachusetts, found the weather almost warm compared to recent frigid temperatures in New England. She walked around without a coat.

The directors gathered at the Clerc Center for two major purposes. The first was to learn about initiatives in the Clerc Center, discuss how to bring those initiatives to other schools and programs, and identify resources from around the country that could address some Clerc Center needs.

The second purpose was to meet with individuals from the University on topics of mutual interest such as the Academic Bowls and the extension courses. The directors also met with Dr. Jordan to update him on regional events and learn about what is happening on Kendall Green.

Harriett Alexander-Whiting, director of the Student Services Team, and Matt Rider, coordinator of the Mental Health Unit, described the need for information about state resources for evaluation and psychoeducational testing and referrals for therapeutic counseling. Debra Nussbaum, coordinator of the Cochlear Implant Education Center (CIEC) and Suzanne Scott, outreach specialist, provided information on recent developments in the CIEC and possible training opportunities to meet the numerous training requests on cochlear implants received by the GURCs. Another hot topic was visual phonics, stimulated in part by Bettie Waddy-Smith’s article in Odyssey. Two GURCs hope to offer visual phonics workshops in their regions.

The GURCs had extensive discussion about projects in the Clerc Center’s priority areas, organized by Janne Harrelson, director of National Mission Planning. Sue Jacoby, transition coordinator, reviewed a presentation on DecisionMaker so that the GURCs can present overviews at conferences as part of the Clerc Center’s marketing efforts. She also provided written summaries about Transition Guidelines that are under development and other transition projects. Matt Goedecke, Team Leader on Team 12 presented on Portfolios for Student Growth (PSG) and described future plans for PSG. Leslie Page, family involvement coordinator, summarized Families Count! The long-awaited Level One will be available in the spring. The GURCs learned about the Clerc Center’s initiative to create linkages between national deaf organizations, such as the National Black Deaf Advocates, and families with deaf and hard of hearing children.

Dave Schleper, literacy coordinator, described the upcoming manual on the nine areas of literacy and the new manual and videotape about dialogue journals. More extensive information about using dialogue journals will be presented through an on-line course offered through Graduate Education and Extended Learning. Dave also described the Thinking Reader project, a collaboration underway on Team 6/7/8 with CAST (Center for Applied Special Education Technology). Betsy Meynardie, manager of Training and Professional Development, shared ideas about changes in the delivery of Shared Reading Project and other training initiatives.

“Documentation” is a perennial favorite topic of the GURCs because they, like individuals in the Clerc Center, complete Activity Summaries and Contact Logs. However, there are occasional inconsistencies in documentation. Dr. Margaret Hallau, who supervises the GURCs from the Clerc Center, asked them to compare Activity Summaries, identify inconsistencies, and develop rules for documenting future activities.

In addition to supporting the Clerc Center’s training, technical assistance, and information dissemination, the GURCs support MSSD recruiting efforts by suggesting places where the MSSD poster can be sent. They reviewed the exhibit plan and identified conferences where they assist with the Clerc Center exhibit.

In addition to meetings with the Clerc Center, the GURCs also met with individuals from Gallaudet University. Gallaudet Leadership Institute (GLI) director Dr. Jay Innes discussed the educational leadership program and the training for consumer advocates. The GURCs were a part of the initial discussion of the need for the GLI to prepare deaf leaders for schools, advocacy groups, and agencies. Several directors served on the advisory panels for the GLI framework.

Dr. Diane Morton of the Counseling Department described a training opportunity with the American Red Cross to prepare mental health professionals to become part of the Red Cross mental health disaster services network. The GURCs plan to set up this training in their regions to address the needs of deaf and hard of hearing people during disasters.

The GURCs host the regional Academic Bowl and work closely with Gallaudet on the national competition. Planning meetings with Deborah DeStefano, Debra Lawson, Charity Reedy-Hines, Darian Burwell, and Moon Teh clarified expectations and resolved several potential problems. Around the country, there are waiting lists of teams interested in the regional bowls, including teams who have never participated in past competitions.

The GURCs offer Gallaudet extension courses in their regions. They determine interest levels in the courses available from Gallaudet and coordinate the logistics. Dr. Robert Johnson commended the GURCs for the increased number of courses offered recently. Dr. Nancy Carroll and Elice Patterson reviewed progress on agreements between Gallaudet and the host institutions where the GURCs are located to facilitate the transfer of students from those institutions to Gallaudet. Dr. Karen Kimmel and Ann Hampton described three summer programs for middle and high school students that introduce students and their families to Gallaudet resources at the same time providing summer enrichment programs for these students.

As the meeting concluded at noon on Friday, one director commented, “We’ve made good progress on our goals and have had excellent discussions this week—even with all the snow and ice. But next year, I hope we won’t plan to meet in January in D.C.!”

GURC directors (L to R): Kathy Vessey, Kim Beardslee, Sara Simmons, Steve Larew and Pam Snedigar